Blogger Perez Hilton swipes paparazzi celebrity photos, edits them, and posts them on his site. Now he's being sued for copyright infringement. Fair use or infringement? This is definitely a case to watch.

More info here.

Regards,

-Mike

This portion is what makes me side with the complaining party:

Start "protecting" your works, copywriters. :P

Dave,
What is your definition of "protecting"?
Could you explain how anyone reading this can stop their work from being snapped up?

Thanks!

For the photographers, a mix of heavy visible watermarks across sample images posted online plus steganography to identify and track full-size versions would be a deterrent...although not fool-proof.

For copywriters concerned about online theft, the first place to start would be Copyscape.com. But even taking the preventive measures of filing copyright registrations where appropriate (such as when a copywriter retains intellectual property rights), isn't going to be enough if there is no enforcement.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, so long as there are regions of the world that encourage piracy, enforcement of U.S. IP laws is a losing proposition where there are demands for the intellectual property.

Some factor piracy in as a cost of doing business when pricing. For example, if a copywriter believed that 10% of a market was lost to piracy, one way to compensate for the loss would be a corresponding increase in prices the copywriter would otherwise charge in order to compensate for the loss.

My two cents.

Regards,

-Mike